Are we ready for Taenia solium cysticercosis elimination in sub-Saharan Africa?

The World Health Organization announced in November 2014 at the fourth international meeting on 'the control of neglected zoonotic diseases - from advocacy to action', that intervention tools for eliminating Taenia solium taeniosis/cysticercosis (TSTC) are in place. The aim of this work was to elucidate theoretical outcomes of various control options suggested for TSTC elimination in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over a 4-year period. Our current knowledge regarding T. solium epidemiology and control primarily builds on studies from Latin America. A simple transmission model - built on data from Latin America - has been used to predict the effect of various interventions such as mass treatment of humans, vaccination and treatment of pigs, and health education of communities, potentially leading to change in bad practices and reducing transmission risks. Based on simulations of the transmission model, even a 4-year integrated One Health approach fails to eliminate TSTC from a small community and in all simulations, the prevalence of human taeniosis and porcine cysticercosis start to rise as soon as the programmes end. Our current knowledge regarding transmission and burden of TSTC in SSA is scarce and while claiming to be tool ready, the selection of diagnostic and surveillance tools, as well as the algorithms and stepwise approaches for control and elimination of TSTC remain major challenges

Has Culling Been Properly Assessed as a Valid and Justified Control Intervention Measure for Zoonotic Diseases?

No abstract available

ADVANZ: Establishing a Pan-African platform for neglected zoonotic disease control through a One Health approach

Advocacy for neglected zoonotic diseases (ADVANZ) is a One Health Neglected Zoonotic Diseases (NZDs) project, funded by the European Commission through its 7th framework programme. The initiative aims at persuading decision makers and empowering stakeholders at local, regional, and international levels towards a coordinated fight against NZDs. ADVANZ is establishing an African platform to share experiences in the prevention and control of NZDs. The platform will compile and package existing knowledge or data on NZDs and generate evidence-based algorithms for improving surveillance and control with the ultimate aim of eliminating and eradicating these diseases. The platform will serve as a forum for African and international stakeholders, as well as existing One Health and NZD networks and harness and consolidate their efforts in the control and prevention of NZDs. The platform had its first meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa in March 2013

Risikovurdering av AMS. Kartlegging av informasjonssikkerhetsmessige sårbarheter i AMS

-Denne rapporten presenterer en overordnet risikovurdering av Avaserte Måle- og Styringssystemer (AMS) knyttet til hvilke konsekvenser det kan ha for kraftforsyningen at AMS utsettes for informasjonssikkerhetbrudd. Vurderingen er hovedsaklig gjort for AMS basisfunksjoner, som er å registrere måledata hos kunde og overføre disse til nettselskapet, samt bryting/struping av effektuttaket i det enkelte målepunkt

“THIS IS THE TIME. AND THIS IS THE RECORD OF THE TIME”

THIS IS THE TIME. AND THIS IS THE RECORD OF TIMEToday’s extensive use of databases for storing identifying biometric and genetic information raises several questions on the relations between bodies, tech nology, information, power, human rights and personal integrity. While an individualistic understanding of the human being is inadequate as a way of approaching this complex of problems, we are also confronted with the challenge not to dissolve the subject, thus overlooking the fragility of our condition and the ways in which our bodies are being encroached. The present article attempts to meet this double challenge.Starting with the short story Fantomina: or Love in a Maze, written by Eliza Haywood during the early 18th century, and with a discussion on some relations between fiction, power and surveillance, the article investigates contemporary ways in which bodies are being inscribed in laws and captured in the trap of scription when used as proofs of identity. The article analyzes questions of identification in their historical complexity, as well as the patterns that are played out by powers of recording, operating with some continuity over the past centuries.It is also suggested that so-called bodily freedoms and rights, as well as integrity, could gain in critical significance by considering the “betweenness” – the inter-est of Hannah Arendt – and the ways in which our existence presupposes the other (understood as both the world and the others conditioning us). Opposing the individualistic tradition, the law understood as a boundary does not, thus, enclose independent individuals in sovereign possession of themselves beyond time and space; instead, the boundary gains its significance in relation to an opaque who in continuous becoming